Police: Body of missing boater recovered

Adrian Perez, 46, went missing after sailboat sank; 5 others rescued

The search continued Monday for a man who disappeared in the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland Natural Resources Police said it happened Sunday afternoon near Sandy Point State Park. Police said Adrian Perez, 46, of Upper Marlboro went missing after a sailboat sank north of the Bay Bridge in Annapolis.

Maryland Natural Resources police said the body of a missing boater who disappeared in the Chesapeake Bay has been recovered and was taken to the Medical Examiner's Officer in Baltimore for an autopsy.

Police said Adrian Perez, 46, of Upper Marlboro went missing after a sailboat sank north of the Bay Bridge in Annapolis. Authorities said the 17-foot boat started going down around noon Sunday near Sandy Point State Park with two adults and four children on board.

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In the choppy waters of the Chesapeake Bay, search and rescue crews are hoping to find a missing boater.

"Two families -- a father and son and a father with two sons and a daughter -- went out fishing at about 8 a.m. (Sunday)," Candy Thomson with Maryland Natural Resources Police said.

Thomson said something went drastically wrong Sunday when the families began heading back to shore.

"Apparently they couldn't get the engine started and while they were working on that, somehow water came in the back of the boat into the stern and the boat filled up rather rapidly, and the boat sank back first, stern first, in about three minutes," Thomson said.

Authorities said the boat went down so fast no one had a chance to put on life jackets. A nearby boater rescued five people, but Perez was nowhere to be found.

Rescue crews went out on the water Monday continuing their search, but said rainy weather and bad visibility are challenging, even with the use of sonar, a device that allows them to see things under the surface.

"In this case, we've got waves. We have poor visibility. Being able to tow the sonar in a consistent, straight pattern is kind of problematic today so we're mostly relying on the visual, the eyeballs looking out trying to spot something. That's very hard to do," Thomson said.

The ages of the children aboard the boat ranged from 5 to 13. The group had been fishing.

The Anne Arundel County Fire Department, Maryland Natural Resources Police and the U.S. Coast Guard participated in the search.